David Sassoon, the Jewish royal designer who dressed Princess Diana, dies at 92
Sassoon said Jewish traditions played an “enormous part” in his designs.
Princess Diana dressed in a Belville Sassoon design. (Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)
(JTA) — David Sassoon, a former co-director of the couture house Belville Sassoon which designed over 70 outfits for Princess Diana, has died at 92.
His death was confirmed to Women’s Wear Daily by fellow designer Zandra Rhodes.
The designer was born in London in 1932 to Iraqi Sephardi Jewish parents and co-led Belville Sassoon for over five decades alongside his creative partner Belinda Bellville. Sassoon made a name for himself dressing the British royal family for decades, including some of Princess Diana’s most iconic looks, such as the going-away dress she wore after her 1981 wedding to Prince Charles.
Sassoon’s work was a key part of what made Princess Diana into a “global style icon,” author Bethan Holt told Women’s Wear Daily. His groundbreaking designs were influenced in part by his Jewish heritage.
“Jewish traditions played an enormous part in the clothes I designed,” Sassoon said in a 2023 interview with The Guardian after his designs were featured in an exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands celebrating Jewish Londoners who shaped global style.
Sassoon stopped designing in the 2000’s and retired in 2012, according to InStyle. His cause of death was not announced.
Correction: This story has been corrected to show that Sassoon created Princess Diana’s going-away dress, not her wedding dress.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
